Tom Anderson

so ive been going back and forth on this for a few weeks now and i cant really make up my mind. currently running an RTL-SDR v3 with SDR# and its fine for most stuff but i keep hitting the noise floor on HF and the 8-bit dynamic range is just killing me when theres a strong broadcast station nearby wiping out everything else
the HackRF is tempting because of the TX capability even though i know its only half duplex and the noise figure is pretty rough, something like 25dB i think without an LNA in front of it. but the frequency coverage is insane, like 1MHz all the way up to 6GHz which would be great for the satellite stuff i want to play with
the RSP1B from SDRplay on the other hand has much better dynamic range, 14-bit ADC i believe, and the noise floor is way lower but its RX only obviously. i mostly want to do NOAA/Meteor-M passes, some aircraft monitoring, and maybe poke around at some of the amateur satellites. do i actually need TX for any of that? probably not right now but i feel like ill want it eventually
anyone run both and can actually compare them from real use rather than just spec sheets

yeah the buzz is almost definitely common mode, the coax shield is carrying some of the return current and it ends up radiating back into the shack. a simple choke at the feedpoint will fix it, i usually just wind about 8-10 turns of the coax on a 4 inch diameter form, something like a PVC coupler or even a coffee can works. for 40m you dont need anything exotic. some guys swear by the ugly balun method, just coil the first few feet of coax right below the feedpoint into a bundle and zip tie it, works surprisingly well in practice even if its not as clean as a wound choke.
the solder job on the SO-239 matters more than people think too — twisted wire under tape is gonna cause you grief eventually especially if theres any moisture. worth taking the connector apart and soldering it properly if you havent already. the sloper part is fine, actually slopers can have a little directivity which isnt a bad thing at all.

so ive had my TS-590SG for going on 7 years now and honestly it still works great, no complaints really, but i keep reading about the IC-7300 and the IC-7610 and the new Icom stuff and wondering if im missing out. the SDR waterfall display stuff looks really useful for contesting and just general DX hunting.
my shack is pretty basic — 590 into a LDG tuner, 100w into a fan dipole up about 35 feet, nothing fancy. i work mostly 40 and 20m, some 17m when the band cooperates. i do a handful of contests a year, nothing serious, and just ragchew otherwise.
the question is whether the 7300 is actually a meaningful upgrade from the 590 or if im just falling for the shiny new thing. receiver wise is there actually a noticeable difference day to day or is this one of those things that only matters if youre in a competitive contest environment with big antennas. i keep going back and forth on this honestly

ok so ive been licensed about 8 months now and ive been making contacts pretty regularly but the whole QSL confirmation thing has me completely turned around. like i understand the basic idea — you confirm the contact happened — but i dont understand why there are so many different ways to do it and which ones actually count for awards and stuff.
i signed up for LoTW because i kept seeing people mention it but the whole certificate thing took me a while to figure out and honestly im still not 100% sure i set it up right. then someone at my club mentioned eQSL and said some people use that instead but some people look down on it? and then of course there are actual physical cards which i think look really cool but seem like a lot of work and postage.
do i need all three or can i just pick one and stick with it. and if i want to go for DXCC someday does LoTW handle that or do i need paper cards too. sorry if this is a dumb question i just cant find a clear answer anywhere that doesnt sound like it was written for someone who already knows everything

yeah the buzz is almost definitely common mode, the coax shield is carrying some of the return current and it ends up radiating back into the shack. a simple choke at the feedpoint will fix it, i usually just wind about 8-10 turns of the coax on a 4 inch diameter form, something like a PVC coupler or even a coffee can works. for 40m you dont need anything exotic. some guys swear by the ugly balun method, just coil the first few feet of coax right below the feedpoint into a bundle and zip tie it, works surprisingly well in practice even if its not as clean as a wound choke.
the solder job on the SO-239 matters more than people think too — twisted wire under tape is gonna cause you grief eventually especially if theres any moisture. worth taking the connector apart and soldering it properly if you havent already. the sloper part is fine, actually slopers can have a little directivity which isnt a bad thing at all.